Holy mayor?

Given today’s political climate in our nation and abroad, most of us would be hard pressed to come up with the name of a single politician we admire enough that he/she should be considered for sainthood.

But Giorgio La Pira, the mayor of Florence from 1951 to 1965, was not like any of the politicians of our day and age.

And because he lived his life as we could only hope today’s politicians would, he is on the journey to sainthood. His cause was moved forward July 5 as Pope Francis authorized the decree of “heroic virtue” for the Italian politician.

As the mayor of Florence, La Pira’s influence extended well beyond his municipality. He made several official trips behind the Iron Curtain to Russia, China and Vietnam during the Cold War to promote peace and human rights, which were virtually unheard of among Western politicians. Before traveling to Moscow, La Pira visited Fatima and wrote to cloistered religious orders asking for their prayers for his journey.

As mayor, he advocated for the poor and for workers’ rights and also helped to write the Italian Constitution after World War II.

He became a Third Order Dominican in his early 20s, which shaped his spiritual life as a layperson before he went on to be a lawyer, politician, university professor, and peace advocate. As mayor, he chose to live in simplicity in a cell in the monastery of San Marco in Florence.

Pope St. John Paul II spoke of the important role La Pira played in the reconstruction of Europe, and chose to celebrate the “Jubilee of Governors” in 2000 on the date of La Pira’s death, Nov. 5. A quote from the former mayor of Florence was also selected as the motto for the celebration, “Our participation in a Holy Year is not an act of piety but a political act, because it must contribute to the realization of God’s plan in history.”